Cricket 1904

CR*CKET, a w e e k ly re c o rd o f th e game. JULY 14, 1904. “ Together joined in Cricket’s manly toil.”— Byron. ITo. 6 6 6 . VOL. X X I I I . CHATS ON THE CRICKET FIELD. COLONEL THE R IGHT HON. W . 8. KENYON -SLANEY , M .P. In the Honours’ List which was pub­ lished at the end of June, the name of Colonel Kenyon-Slaney appeared as a Privy Councillor. The Colonel has sat in the House of Commons since 1886 as a Conservative, always for the Newport Division of Shropshire. After leaving E ton in 1865 he went to Christ Church, Ox­ ford, and thence into the Guards, for whom he man­ aged the cricket for many years, and for whom he was instrumental in securing their ground at Burtons Court. He has represented the House of Commons at cricket in recent times, and for eight vears was a member o f the Committee of the Marylebone C .C .; he was also on the Committee of the Prince’s Club. In former days he played in the matches of the M .C.C., I Zingari and the Household Brigade, and in the green “ L illyw hite” of 1877 he is described among the Gentle­ men of England as “ one of the best and most energetic bats in the A rm y.” O f the Household Brigade matches, Oolonel Kenyon- Slaney said : “ Am ong my brother officers who most constantly played were Col­ onel Row ley and Capt. Oliver Montague. We had a very fast bowler and hard hitter, a trooper in the Blues, whose name I have forgotten. H e suddenly disappeared and was no more heard of until he came to England as one of the team representing the Gentlemen of Canada. I am sorry to say that soon after he arrived in England he was arrested as a deserter. One of the most interesting Army matches in those days was against the Bar, although we were always beaten as far as I remember. We THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1904. were generally the guests of Russey Walker, one of the famous Southgate brotherhood of cricketers. I remember being nearly killed in one of the I Zingari matches at the V ice-regal Lodge, in Dub­ lin. I made a hit to cover-point—Hone, who was a notoriously hard thrower. My partner and I ran for all we were worth, and the fieldsman, picking up the^ball and throwing it in very hard, hit me on the side of the head— a blow which knocked me fairly out of time.” “ You were at school at Eton ? ” “ Yes. But I was never in the eleven. There was no coaching in those days ; a b oy received no help at all, and had to learn the game as best he could. B . A. H . M itchell was the great cricket hero of PR ICE 2d. my time at Eton. One cannot help noticing, and almost envying, the good fortune of the boys of these days who, from the time that they enter a prepara­ tory school, are so carefully taught the rudiments of the game that any natural gifts they may have are sure to be trained and developed. They are also very for­ tunate in having such excellent grounds to play on, and if they can­ not field well they really ought to be ashamed of themselves. Nowadays a young cricketer fielding at cover-point knows for a certainty that he only has to allow for the natural bias of the ball when it comes in his direction; in my days he could never be quite certain whether it would come to his right hand or to his left.” In the days when Colonel K e n y o n -S la n e y played, matches were frequently arranged by I Zingari against powerful teams at country houses, for it must be remem­ bered that first-class matches were then so few and far between that famous crick­ eters were glad to get opportunities of playing against a strong side, and it was not difficult for a gentleman to get up a very powerful team. “ Among the many pleasant matches which I remember,” said the Colonel, “ were those at Croxteth (Lord Sefton’s place, near Liverpool), Comp­ ton Verney, in Warwickshire, where the late Lord W il­ loughby de Broke was our h o st; Patshull (Lord Dart­ mouth’s place), and Wilton, near Salisbury, where the present Lord Pembroke used to take command of the team .” “ Y ou used to bow l lobs ? ” “ Only occasionally. I suppose that the greatest success I ever met with was in the very last match I played, not long ago. It was between Schoolboys under fifteen years of age and Parents over fifty years, and I managed to account for